For the Best
by xFemdomx
Summary: When the planet Miranda suddenly drops contact with the Alliance, a team is sent to discover and report back what happened to the people that lived there. Five military escorts and five scientists are employed by Parliament to take up the mission, among them is Doctor Caron, an upcoming behavioral and social scientist. What they find there will change the 'Verse forever.
1. Preface

**Disclaimer**: The 'Verse belongs to Joss!

* * *

><p><strong>Preface<strong>

* * *

><p>I ran up the short stairs, and cursed under my breath frantically when I pushed the button on the inside of the pod and it refused to shut.<p>

I whirled around to the cortex room, walking over the threshold pushed the button on the inside, letting the pressure hiss the thick steel closed.

I let out a choked laugh of relief at this one merciful barrier between me and them.

The last view I would ever have of Miranda was its twilight. The door compressed the beautiful purple hue sky into a horizontal sliver, and then was gone in a glaring white instant.

The grey reflective steel quickly replaced it.

When it closed, bringing together two halves of my face. Seeing it for the first time all day, I began to cry.

Red. Red everywhere.

The tears carved a path through the bloody layer on my cheeks.

Soon all I could see was skin blurred on steel.

My cries heaved breaths uncontrollably inward, not allowing me to take a real breath.

Their faces flashed unconsenting to mind; the blood, the chucks on flesh bitten and peeled off bone, the ripping, the raping, the snarling.

My voice whined in a cry, and I felt the hot tears, my body arching forward as if to squeeze out the ocean pour out of my eyes.

I stopped myself from pounding against the door, angry and horrified that the faces stuck there were none of my companions.

They were _theirs._

The _monsters_.

No.

I stopped, suppressing the chopping waters inside with some gasps.

I couldn't take the risk of complete emotional release.

I couldn't let them hear me. Noise just attracts them.

They would find me eventually, but I wouldn't be the one to lead them here.

Still, my fists curled against the cool grey, and I sank to the grated floor, on my hands and knees. I compressed my body raking cries between my knees, holding my arms as if to keep myself from drifting away.

I felt it come up when the images kept sweeping through my mind.

Running to the head, I only just made it in time to vomit up bile and acid.

I didn't know what my body was trying to rid itself of, I had already spilled most of it throughout the day.

Shaking, I turned to the facet without looking at my reflection. I went to work scraping my face of any human remains.

When I felt a shard of bone glued to my wild strands of hair with blood, I felt my body threaten to heave up nothing again.

I shuddered it away.

Wetting my hands, I gathered my hair into a smoother style, drawing it back and tying it to the back of my head. The bangs on either side did not fit in the tail, framing my heated eyes.

I took deep breaths, and finally looked at myself.

The claw marks of human nail strung in red lines diagonally across my right face side. I could feel the first of them puffing thick on top my eyelid. The bruising to my left jaw was also protruding thick, weighing down my face. The steel punch outlined in red, but in the middle gave way to sickening rings of yellow and purple.

My neck still had smatterings of blood.

I swallowed down another sob, raising a wet towel and wiping it away frantically.

I wouldn't have them see blood soaked on my skin.

It wasn't how I wanted anyone to see me for the last time.

The last time.

My face contorted into cries again, and I tried to restrain it.

I didn't have time.

I had no idea of knowing when they would come to finish me off.

Too much time was already wasted on pulling myself together.

I walked into the cortex room, committing my thoughts to breathing and pushing the flash drive of pictures from earlier today.

Today?

I checked the time on the cortex.

It was dawn on this planet.

Twenty-for hours ago we were hitting atmo, and now I was here.

I took another breath, I just had to do it.

Just start talking.

People have to know. I'm the one who has to tell them.

There is no one else.

The light on the holo recorder blinked after I pressed it briefly.

And I let the words flood out.

"These are just a few of the images we've recorded, and you can see it isn't... it isn't what we thought."


	2. The Mission

**The Mission**

_Osiris - 51 hours earlier_

* * *

><p>We strangers sat in a large conference room, the steel table stretched long enough to fit at least thirty all around it.<p>

No one was speaking.

There was no point for introductions. This was a briefing directly from Parliament. Chances were we would be ordered to never speak to anyone else (including employees from other levels of the facility) about what we whatever new grand goal they tasked us with.

After this, I was unlikely to ever see them again.

Though I was bored enough to observe them. One younger man with tight-wound blonde curls and thin metallic glasses, a woman with naturally shined black hair, another gentleman whose long hair flipped up short and charmingly at their ends.

Then there was Brera; dusty blonde plump waves of hair reaching her shoulders, her eyes a stagnant sapphire and her smirking attitude at the ready.

I had met her before, on accident in this facility, and became fast friends. Though friendship between floor levels wasn't expressly forbidden, it was closely watched.

Because of that we didn't meet often, but when we did meet we got along well.

We only acknowledged this now, however, with a simple meeting of eyes.

Who met here regularly, I wonder?

Not the members of the Parliament, that was certain.

Their two representatives sat awkwardly stiff on the head of the table, closest to the doors. One was a Chinese woman, the other a man of different, tanner complexion.

"Now that everyone is here, we can get started." The woman started.

"Before we brief you, we must insist that you speak to no one about what we will discuss. This is highly classified information. If any of you speak of this outside of this room, you will be arrested and imprisoned for treason."

She stared at the five of us.

I did not dare to look away. These warnings were announced at the beginning of all assignments in this facility, and when triggered carried out punishment swiftly, silently.

Dirk the Roboticist had talked about the Blue Glove project on the outside a couple of months ago, the leak only sprung in the walls of the facility, and was quickly welded shut. No one knew where he was now. Or if there was a new scientist assigned to it.

I knew of the dangers. I didn't mind so much, though, because I would never be an offender.

The Alliance is who gave me permission to run my tests, and fund research on my theories. Why would I ever do anything to risk such a thing?

As my work thrives, I do also.

After it sunk, she cleared her throat elegantly and continued.

I stole a glance to Brera.

She flashed her lips down into a satirical, "Uh-oh" face.

I smiled in response then turned back to the man rep.

"It seems the Planet of Miranda has lost contact with Parliament. There is no explanation of it yet. The last transmission four months ago indicated to some rioting however, as well as some mentions of Blight and dust bowls reported on the west side of the planet. These are just a few of the examples that could have overrun Miranda. Because of the clean break, we can not be entirely sure."

He turned his head for her to continue.

"Perhaps there was a civil war, perhaps a terraforming event, perhaps it was something else entirely. Parliament doesn't care for guesswork. That's why we've selected each of you to sort out exactly what happened."

"Sir?" Brera interrupted her with a quizzical look, "there is a very, very slim possibility terraforming on Miranda could have gone wrong. I supervised and created the geo-construction myself. The planet's soil samples were perfectly compatible with our terraforming process in the labs. The soil itself was very fertile, grew excellent crops in wide varieties, in fact, similar to Earth That Was."

They simply stared at her.

Brera pursed her lips and kept them shut. Blushing, she uneasily leaned back into her chair, her eyes down and focused on the screen on the table in front of all of us with Miranda displayed on it.

The bronze planet floated in the depths of space, serene clouds curved along the atmosphere.

"With Miranda being so far in the outer-rim, it is hard for us to know exactly what happened." he continued stiffly.

Outer-rim? They would send us there to the rioting rebels?

"You will all be boarding a ship tomorrow, joining an élite team to escort and protect you against possible threats in the world."

"Sir," I leaned forward in my seat for them to recognize, "I have ongoing experiments and am currently halfway through several projects the Parliament themselves asked me to work on-"

He interrupted me, "All of your work is suspended for this mission. It is of the highest importance to our people, doctors."

I bit my tongue.

"You are ordered to meet at Orus Spaceport; terminal A, bay three, at o-eight-hundred hours tomorrow. You are to leave after this meeting, pack personal items that are necessary, equipment will of course we supplied for you onboard. Do not be late. Usir is the name of the ship you will board. On your arrival, collect data from your respective fields and report back your findings."

Well that was the end of that.

My rats would have to wait.

I'm headed to Miranda tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Orus was always terribly crowded.<p>

But I got there.

"Doctor Caron?" A man dressed in black unitard uniform approached me as I came closer to the Usir. His hair buzzed to short spikes.

"Yes."

"ID." He ordered.

I scrambled to get it out, blowing pieces of dark brown layered hair that fell into my eyes away.

After legitimizing me, he lead me directly to the ship. I walked on easily, thick duffel bag in hand.

He took position in front of me, and I followed him through the airlock, then through the cargo bay, than directly into the common area.

It wasn't very common or welcoming.

There was no furniture. All of it was carved out of the dark grey metal walls. The seats were made of mesh, no table, just straps to tie yourself in.

There were three already strapped in, Brera and two others I was a stranger to.

Directly ahead of them was the cockpit.

He turned to me, and I him.

"Head is to your left, right ahead. Take a right from there and there's the cortex room. It doubles as a shuttle. Same design to your right; another head and a small lab for you to share at your disposal in with your other team. Ahead of you is the deck. You'll be seated here during take off and landing. When we hit space, there's a latter in the middle of the room that gives you access to the bunkers, infirmary and kitchen. It's not very big, but we don't need space. We'll get to Miranda in a twenty-seven hours."

"Thank you…"

"Captain Alton."

I shook his extended hand, "Captain."

"Please have a seat."

Right.

While he turned heel and waited outside for whoever was remaining, I sat next to Brera.

"Eda, this is Doctor Lason Ellis from the Ecology department,"

Ellis nodded his head, a tight group of blonde curls bounced on his head, glasses rested on his freckled nose.

"And Doctor Dannan from Medical."

Dannan gave me a bored smile, as if she were above the mystery of our impending mission.

"And this, gentleman and lady, is Doctor Eda Caron, a cognitive and behavioral Psychologist and social scientist."

"Does anyone know who were are waiting for?" I asked.

"Doctor Evan Shull," We all turned to Captain Alton's direct voice.

Shull waved brightly, long strips of hair bending to rest on his temples, "A chemist."

He finished with a genuine smile.

My cheeks flushed under his brown eyes.

"Brera Waed, geologist." My friend spoke up beside me, voice curling into a grin. She found him attractive also.

After Alton gave him the verbal tour and we all introduced ourselves again, he sat next to me and the Captain was on board.

The airlock closed behind him with a hiss.

He crossed his arms, taking a stance, feet planted firmly forward.

"Listen up! More introductions; you know me, the pilot is Deng, co-pilot is Rita, these two strapped next to you are Gao and Mauk. Yes, we are soldiers, yes we will be armed and we will protect you. You will follow our instruction. No arguments. We don't know what we're expecting, so you will take our lead. That's final."

He stared at each any every one of us in turn.

Once the silence sank he shouted to his pilots, "We're a go."

"Alright, you wacky scientists, strap yourselves in please!" Deng's deep voice sounded over the speakers in a silly way.

We did as instructed.

"Everyone in?" Rita turned her head around to check with narrowed scrutinizing almond eyes.

"Check." Gao's eyes skimmed over our belts with a smirk on her face, her almond eyes laughing, as if thinking how awkward we all looked on the ship where soldiers were meant to sit.

"Check." Mauk only wasted one glance to make sure his side passengers were secure, then went back to meticulously adjusting some piece of equipment on his lap.

"Take us to the sky!" Alton ordered from the seat closest to Deng's.

I took a breath and rest my head against the cool, solid metal.

Miranda was waiting for us.


	3. The Crash

**The Crash**

_Miranda Atmo - 17:45 h_

* * *

><p>Red lights blared.<p>

Air flashed through the holes in the ship.

The seatbelt was tight enough to choke back the vomit.

Gravity whirled around me as Usir was toyed with mercilessly by it.

"-HIT! LOST ALLFUCTIONOFTHELEFTTIRBINES-!" Pilot Deng's voice was no longer silly.

In an instant, my body experienced a lift the smallest amount from my seat, before I was throttled right back down by the belt, my head hitting the wall behind painfully.

The _Usir_ underwent wrenching lunges forward, as a stone would across the water. Each bout of air it hit wrong was another lurch to a random side, thrashing my body rigorously.

As the adrenaline slowed time for my processing mind, I realized only one ridiculous thing; Brera won the bet, Miranda was in rebellion.

They shot at us.

Ó, wǒ de shàngdì, we were going to crash.

Minutes after the _Usir_ hit atmo, the rebels blasted clumsily away at the ship.

It was the fifth beam that pulverized the entire left side of the ship. Debris flew and tore gaping holes through the top left-side hull, creating vacuums that rushed the ship's air to meet Miranda's.

Behind the clamoring whips of hair, striking my face, I could see something large and metallic splitting through Mauk's chest.

Ellis had blood splattered sporadically dripping off the side closest to Mauk. The terrified man kept his wide eyes on the bloody protrusion and screamed words of horror, only to have them sucked quickly out the hull holes.

"STABLIZE!"some man screamed.

_Usir_ was jostled again, plowing my body forward into the tight belt. Then up, then to the side-and then I couldn't keep track anymore.

My brain slamming all around my skull, my bones thrashing against the muscles attached.

Suddenly, the ship jerked and looped and we were upright again, somewhat steady. The metal rattled thunderously over the rushing wind.

After a few moments passed, the captain, who strapped to the chair directly behind the Pilot's, decided to trust the steadiness. He unfastened his belt, throwing it over his head, and ran through the turbulence. Crashing into Mauk's dead body, he unfastened it, flung it to the floor and sat there himself.

I focused on the Captain's voice fight over the enormous suction, "ALL SECURE! INITIATE FLIP!"

Before I could even think to ask what it was - it initiated, and I was promptly flipped over, my hair hanging from my head, my body's weight crushing my shoulders against the belts around them, my stomach in my mouth.

The wind immediately was silenced. All I could hear now was the spitting, moaning, and heavy breathing of Brera, Shull, Gao and myself.

We had been literally flipped into the shuttle behind us, the lab shuttle.

Something was wrong. We weren't supposed to be hanging upside-down from the side wall.

"It's jammed!" Gao's voice huffed.

The sound of impatient pressing was heard, then incessant cursing in Chinese.

"Tā mā de tā mā de zhè yīqiè! Gǒu shǐ yīkuài, get off of me!" her voice growled in frustration at her belt.

Around us, the shuttle continued to shudder and groan.

"GAO!" A panicked and suddenly a loud interruption through the speakers of the small shuttle screen cortex by the pilot's seat.

Brera's throat made an uneasy whimper, and I could see blood dripping to the floor from somewhere…

"DETACH YOUR SHUTTLE!"

"DENG, IT IS JAMMED, READ ME, JAMMED. Báichī bùyào liǎn!" Gao's belt un-clicked, a pop sounded and she cried out.

"Are you-?" I managed to finally heave out words, turning my intensely pressured head to the woman.

Her body was outside of its constraints, but still dangled a foot from the ground by her arm, which was surely the cause of the sound. My eyes felt as if they might pop out. Gao managed to side her arm out and fall to the floor, her knees partially giving out, she fell instead, on her bottom.

"GAO, DETACH YOUR SHUTTLE!" Heaving and whimpering, she rose to standing, favoring her left arm.

Ignoring me, she rushed over to the bubble shaped cockpit, sliding through the narrow circle and into the pilot's seat.

"What about us?!" Shull's voice rang in panic.

Gao sat, ignoring him too, and snapped into action.

The spherical doors closed perfectly behind her, though we could faintly hear her yelling.

"DENG, GAO HERE, READ ME?"

The whirling wind ran through the speakers again, "YES!" "DETACH IN THREE, TWO, ONE!"

There was a loud clamor, and an overwhelming hiss, and suddenly the shuttle had independence, but the atmosphere outside was far from unshaken. Turbulence rocked us still.

"HANG ON!" Her voice cracked over the speakers in the shuttle room we hung from.

The room spun, I closed my eyes, feeling the pressure of my bodyweight leveling back to the proper place.

I took a breath and heaved for normalcy, my feet touched the floor again- or the ceiling?

It was then I realized that they were designed the same, especially for the flip technology.

The lab equipment was safe, sealed away and upside-down facing the wall opposite to us.

"Get us out of here!" Brera's voice rasped and whined painfully.

I craned my neck over the belt to try to see if she was okay, if she was the one bleeding.

Gao's spherical cockpit flipped itself, to returning to the same level as the rest of the shuttle.

"I can't. We detached too late, we're coming in way too fast. Everyone just hang on!"

Beepers were going off, swirling around my ears in chaos. Lights began to flash, yellow this time.

"Qǐng bùyào ràng wǒmen sǐ." I shouted surprising myself, tears falling quickly as the tremors of the shuttle grew ever more violent.

I heard Gao scream, and pull up viciously on the automatic steer.

I felt it hit Miranda-

the skipping jerks -

the sudden slam-

the screeching-

the shrieks of voice-

the crash surrounded the outside shuttle walls, collapsing down on us.

Something hot was dripping down my eyelid, my brain distorted.

And instantaneously, silence and stillness was all there was.


End file.
